Congressman Targets Aviation Emissions

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, accused the Bush Administration on Tuesday of not taking action to address aviation’s contribution to greenhouse emissions and said the EPA has “a clear role in protecting Americans from the worst impacts of heat-trapping emissions that cause global warming.” He added that the Bush Administration’s “attempts to fly under the radar” in the face of a “looming threat of a climate catastrophe...have increasingly become a flight from reality.” In a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, Markey asked whether the agency supports regulating aircraft emissions and cited the Clean Air Act, which gives Johnson the authority to regulate emission standards to protect public health and welfare. A spokesman for the EPA said it would review the letter and added that before any decisions can be made, the agency must first determine what effects–if any–the recently passed energy bill will have on its regulatory options.